Paradox of the Left

We don’t know any more what is Left and what is Right in politics.

Look at the UK parties: Liberal Democrats are sometimes (for example during New Labour) more Left-wing than the traditionally socialist Labour, which in Blair's times was more Right-leaning than it used to be historically, and which some people (critics? cynics?) used to say was more Right-wing in its policies than the Conservatives.

Part of the confusion stems from the fact that the Left, whose very nature was to be anti-Establishment, is now The Establishment, having been effectively in power throughout the West since the end of the the Second World War, whether or not they are in government: they have the ideological power and influence, effectively controlling media, universities, cinema, and other powerful means to influence public opinion through the so-called “popular culture”.



There will be no more Stormings of the Winter Palace, no more revolutions, in the modern world or, at least, in that part of the world that has indeed become modern.

There will be no need for that, because whoever controls the media will be in power. And I could add: not only the old media, but also the new ones, although they tend to be freer and less exposed to censorship.